The Board of Trustees will be at the Zelnick Pavilion Friday at 4 p.m. for an hour, and, if history is an indicator, they will be lonely. Wesleyan students live to voice their opinions (see the Wespeaks), but when Board Members have held open forums in the past, attendance has been underwhelming. Sure, the Argus appreciates your contributions to our pages as a forum, but we suggest you take the same sentiments and convey them, in person, to people who can actually enact change.
There are many layers of process, but it’s important to note that the Board of Trustees does have final say on University policy. Trustees have few opportunities to interact with students, so a convincing argument on Friday could make a big difference for the University. If we don’t attend these events, the Board has to rely on a handful of WSA members to represent the entire student body. Worse, it might give trustees the impression that we don’t care.
According to Dean Cruz-Saco’s invitation, Friday’s conversation will encourage a discussion of student life. Few things on campus do not affect student life in some way. We reiterate our support of faculty salary increases; appropriate compensation for professors directly relates to the quality of our college experience. The outcome of the Presidential Search will shape life on campus, especially for underclassmen. If you did not take advantage of the Presidential Search Committee’s initial pleas for suggestions, you can make up for it Friday. Additionally, budget restrictions due to a reduction in the endowment draw may result in the elimination of services around campus. While the Board does not choose which services are affected, they should hear about the everyday repercussions of their executive decisions.
Finally, while some continue to scratch their heads about the usefulness of Zelnick Pavilion, at least its construction embodies something that we continue to seek from the trustees themselves: transparency.
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